As the Moto2™ contingent challenge each other once more this weekend at the Gran Premio Aperol di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini in Misano, they will have a mountainous task in trying to catch Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol's Marc Márquez, with the Spaniard 48 points clear at the top of the championship standings.Márquez, the winner at the track last year after a hard fought battle, will most certainly be joined up front by Speed Master's Andrea Iannone, who will be keen to impress his home fans. He finished third in last year's race, and will look to make up for missing out on the podium in Brno. It is however Pons 40 HP Tuenti's Pol Espargaró who will be the most driven to reduce the deficit to his Spanish rival, after failing to capitalize on his pole position in the last race. He has not finished higher than fifth in Misano, but will hoping that his outright pace can help him mount a serious challenge to Márquez.Interwetten-Paddock's Tom Lüthi, who was on blistering form in Brno, will hope for that extra bit of pace to take his second win this season, and to overtake Espargaró into second in the standings. The Marc VDS Racing Team duo of Scott Redding and Mika Kallio, sitting fifth and sixth in the championship table respectively, will look to better their difficult outing at the last race, where Kallio finished seventh and Redding crashed out on the first lap.Flying the local flag will be NGM Mobile Forward Racing's Alex de Angelis, the only true local rider from Rimini. He only narrowly missed out on the podium last year in fourth, yet will undoubtedly be a threat, after a solid performance on board his FTR at the last race. Other FTR rider, Came IodaRacing Project's Simone Corsi, as well as Italtrans Racing Team's Claudio Corti are two other Italians ready to impress, as they seek to climb the rankings with some local support.Kiefer Racing's Max Neukirchner, who suffered an injury at the previous round in Brno, will be replaced in the team by Frenchman Mike Di Meglio. Neukirchner, following further medical check-ups was diagnosed with a second break in the middle part of his hand, rendering him unable to race. Di Meglio had been racing for the German MZ Racing Team in Moto2, which he joined before the Mugello round. MZ has not yet named a replacement rider. The Arguiñano Racing Team will also field a replacement for the injured Ricky Cardús in the form of South African rider Steven Odendaal.World Championship Standings Moto2™1- Marc Márquez/SPA/Suter/2132- Pol Espargaró/SPA/Kalex/1653- Thomas Luthi/SWI/Suter/1544- Andrea Iannone/ITA/Speed Up/1495- Scott Redding/GBR/Kalex/106Communication MotoGP - www.motogp.com -
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